Why are Humans always depicted as lesser?

>>90625374
We suck.

>>90625374
Whats the point of creating new fantastic species if they are going to be just as regular folk?

>>90625374
That's a wierd thing to say when humans are the center of the universe in most comics.

File: 1488728873581.jpg (74KB, 780x820px) Image search: [Google]

74KB, 780x820px

>it's a "alien species is resistant to gunshots" episode

>>90625374

We're the comic relief in between dinosaurs and self-transforming machine elves, who's going to be lesser than our goofy ape selves?

>>90625374
"Humanity fuck yeah" is already a thing OP. Sounds like it's what you're looking for.

>>90625374
We´re expendable, Earth doesn't need us.

>>90625374
Always? No. More often than not, humanity is portrayed as being more special. Whether it's more adaptable, more willful and less willing to give up, or just flat out being luckier and not dying when everyone else does, humans are practically required in most settings as at least a token race to turn the tide or save the day.

>>90625374

Perhaps it's certain kind of underdog feel they're trying to depict, where we triumph despite seeming to be inferior at first

Though I do hate those "edgy" humanity sucks rants that occur in some entertainment where it's basically

>Hyuimans war eachother and kil
>dats bad
>i deep for saiyn dat

>>90625374
You've either never heard of HFY or you're trolling. It is extremely common for humans to be portrayed as innately superior to whatever aliens or fantasy races they encounter. Just look at the Man-Kzin Wars books for story after story about moronic tigermen and the humans who outwit and outright them every single time.

>>90625374
It's called fiction. In real life, humans are superior to the rest of life on earth in terms of intelligence and use of technology. It's more interesting to create a superior being or species for the sake of conflict.

How do you think religion started?

>>90625374
Because in most of the series that do this, the aliens are either superheroes or supervillains, and their alien status serves as their origin story. Superman has powers because he's an alien, just like the Fantastic Four have powers from being bombarded with cosmic rays, the X-Men have powers because some humans are born with them, and Green Lantern has powers because of a magical power ring. They have superpowers because they're meant to either be the protagonists in stories about people with superpowers, or antagonists who are meant to be extremely threatening; either way, they're stronger than normal humans because the stories are generally about superpowered heroes stopping superpowered threats.

There are stories about aliens or other nonhuman races who are weaker, smaller, or more vulnerable than humans, but those are generally a different kind of story. For example, in a morality play they could serve as a target for humanity's darker nature, showing how some humans treat those less powerful than themselves. Or, in self-indulgent propaganda, they could serve as an easily-defeated enemy to make humanity's mundane traits and flaws seem good by comparison.

Also, not all aliens fit neatly into one category or another. Even in superhero stories, it's not uncommon for aliens to have weird quirks along with their advantages, which mean that situations a human could handle easily will cause massive problems for the alien; a classic example is Superman's weakness to kryptonite. And some of the alien superheroes don't get their powers just from being aliens, but from advanced technology or magic; a lot of Green Lantern Corps members are things like small talking animals or sentient plants, who get all their rings, much like the human protagonists.

>>90625828
yeah, were always the Mary Sues of the universe

humans are always the special ones that have """"intangibles"""". they're just better because they are.

>>90625699
>Humanity fuck yeah
>>90625942
>HFY

I hate these retarded meme terms everyone keeps coming up with.

>>90625374
It's so when we still win it's more dramatic, dumbass.

>>90626440
Humanity Fuck Yeah has been a thing for a long time now (in internet years)

File: the frontier pushes back.png (231KB, 440x432px) Image search: [Google]

231KB, 440x432px

>>90625643
>It's a "guns are the pinnacle of human weaponry, and no fictional race can stand before their might" episode.
>It's a "no matter how technologically advanced, aliens react to a ball of metal propelled by an explosion-based force as pre-colonial tribesmen" episode.

>>90626649

>for a long time

Team America was released in 2004, so even if it was something people started saying the same year as the movie (which it wasn't) that's still not a long time. And time isn't really even the issue, it's that people keep making these stupid gimmick terms for things they can just describe in regular words instead.

>Tech Jacket

>Green Lantern

File: 1487831377989.jpg (1MB, 677x3325px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 677x3325px

>>90625374
Humanity Fuck Yeah is a thing. And it's as cringey as what you'd imagine from the opposite of >>90625902 example.

>Like, isn't it crazy how us humans breathe "poison" / live on a planet with relatively high gravity / are slowly "killing" the planet we came from / like to fuck / can laugh about horrible things / have taste buds?
>No alien species would ever develop under similar circumstances, and they'd all totally fear and admire us for how hardcore we are!
>HFY guys!

>>90625374
The elites themselves believe their racing to using human technology to try to take our best minds and build some kind of breakaway civilization where they're gonna merge with machines transcend and breakaway from the failed species that is man. Which is kind of like a false transmission because they're thinking what they are is ugly and bad, projecting it on themselves instead of believing: no, its a human test about building us up.

>>90626728
2004 sounds about right. Its a Chuck Norris tier term

>>90625374

There's a series of fantasy novels I read when I was younger about two clashing interstellar alliances (one a collectivizing caste-based theocracy with one race as overlords a la Halo and another as a confederation of rebels) that stumble upon 1990s Earth at the same time and compete to win the allegiance of humanity, because we're the most rugged survivable species ever encountered.

It's part of that bullshit interdimensional vampire demons globalist agenda. That's why I don't consume any media outside of the Star Trek and Mass Effect franchises.

>>90625374

The human Green Lanterns are pretty much gods who make all other species look like useless whelps.

File: 5193NVDA3VL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg (29KB, 211x346px) Image search: [Google]

29KB, 211x346px

>>90627855

Here it is.

The good guy aliens are amazed that any intelligent life could survive, let alone thrive, on a world like ours with a cracked crust, earth quakes, volcanoes, etc.

>>90625374
Such as? Often I see humans portrayed as jack of all trades, and super quick to adapt to their new place in space.

>>90628144
That sounds cool, but is it actually good?

File: IMG_0426.jpg (46KB, 750x740px) Image search: [Google]

46KB, 750x740px

>>90625643

>Its a mutants are restinant to guns episode

>>90627322
You know, as stupid as his beliefs are, I kind of admire a pointy-headed ghost who's dedicated enough to have enough racist candy bars prepared to insult anyone who comes to his door. Makes me want to dress up in different costumes and ring his doorbell repeatedly, just to see how many different candy bars he actually has ready.

>>90627322
yeah there's some of that and I hate it but there are for sure good ones

>>90627322
hit the nail on the head

>>90627322
>snigger

Kek

>>90625643
Just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets.

>>90625699
Most idiotic trope on fiction. It's nothing but mary sue enabling shit.

I'll take "humans are lesser beings" before "humans are strictly average in all ways" any day

At least in the first example, humans can be plucky underdogs

>>90645539

then go ahead and enjoy the fedora tipping misanthropy the op is reacting against

>It's a humans might be weaker physically but they have the power of love and it over comes all odds episode

>>90625573
I like to think Out of Placers did it well.

Introduce a bunch of interesting races, all of which are essentially low-quality compared to humanity.

>>90625374

I'm guessing you've never read a Green Lantern comic

>>90643143
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNxh4uxLkco

>>90626662
F doesn't stop = ma just because you're magic or an alien.

>>90626728
>2004
>literally 13 years ago
>not a long time
Jesus grandpa, how old are you? That's over half a lifetime for most posters.

Also what the fuck would you call it?

In my experience it's less likely that humans will be portrayed as being lesser than other species in most stories but, rather, that they'll be portrayed as being a "jack of all trades" species that can competently do what all the other species do but not nearly as well.

That and humans are usually portrayed as being more populous, adaptable and diplomatic.

File: Rogal Dorn roasts Eldrad.jpg (157KB, 911x600px) Image search: [Google]

157KB, 911x600px

Dude we're a pinnacle of the fucking universe in Marvel with unlimited potential. One chemistry glitch and BAM you have Sentry. Some anti-matter research? BAM Anti-Man. 20 years of practice? BAM Sorcerer Supreme (sometimes multiversal).

In DC? How many timeline-breaking speedsters come from other races, and that's not mentioning Cap Atom-tier anomalies?

In Mignola-verse we battle apocalyptic gods of destruction in several different iterations with nothing but base 2000's tech some leftover magic and our wit and will.

Hard sci-fi? At least half the books I've read make us AT LEAST equal contenders to the galactic or universal domination.

Aliens? sure they're dangerous with space jockeys roaming around too and shit, but guess what? We're still standing.

And don't even get me started on 40K.

It's not """lesser species""" if you kill everything they throw at you being a complete underdog.

>>90650417
It takes a certain kind of person to admire aliens who invade a planet, destroy its ecosystem, and kill every native in their path in order to steal their resources, when their own scientists wanted to actually study the native life because they were a biological miracle and potentially worth more than any resources they could steal, just because the alien race is called "human".

There's a reason they were the bad guys.

>>90626662
Kinetic weapons are cheap, simple, and effective relative to things like fusion and lasers.

They will probably never dissapear and retain their effectiveness even in hypothetical space battles.

Aliens would probably use the fuck out of them too, though, for the reasons stated above and not be surprised at all.

>>90652603
you are the weight that holds humanity back from raeching the stars

the writers just want to make other species more interesting, but i wouldn't say they are depicted as "lesser", humans are more depicted as culturally advanced then other species and don't have a real weakness, and their biggest strength is that they can be anything they want

>>90655437
HIs soul is just weighed down by gravity

>>90625374
Reminder that mutants are literally still humans.

>>90625374
'humanity fuck yeah' and 'the sped kids of the galaxy' both bug me. I like to see some actual give and take. like, humans are above average at marathons but below average at communication. humans are way better than race X at making beverages but completlyy suck at preparing seafood compared to race Y. that kind of stuff

>>90643143
Eternauta's Cascarudos.

>>90626728
>making these stupid gimmick terms for things they can just describe in regular words instead
Literally the point of having terms in the first place is to use them instead of describing what the terms refer to.

>>90625620
This mentality is exactly what fucked up Superman and has Batman constantly pushing him around.

Just don't be too overbearing. Do it like the Metro series.

>If it's hostile, you kill it.
>forgive... So that's what it means.

File: elf face.jpg (3KB, 125x125px) Image search: [Google]

3KB, 125x125px

>>90625374
>needs an explanation
This is why.

>>90652603
>steal

Nice meme. At least the Iraqis also use their oil.

>>90655832
Man, fuck elves.

>>90655966

I could never hate that elf, he just looks like such a hilarious asshole.

It's so that humans become the underdogs

>>90625374
Everyone likes an underdog story.

File: oh god yes.png (161KB, 379x526px) Image search: [Google]

161KB, 379x526px

>>90655966
>fuck elves

>>90656214
if you lay it on too thick you stop counting as an underdog and just become batman. I call it the Rocky threshold. if you're more of an underdog than Rocky the story can't afford to let you lose, and it's obvious to the whole audience that nothing is going to get through your six inches of reinforced plot armor

File: Homer wat.png (291KB, 720x480px) Image search: [Google]

291KB, 720x480px

>>90626728
>Team America invented "x fuck yeah!"
Are you fucking serious right now. Am I being rused?

>>90655371
Your description fits slings just as well. Do modern soldiers go out and fight with slings?

>>90625374
>>90625374
>aliens send good guy jesus to spread love and peace
>we kill him in the goriest possible way
no wonder they would see us as lesser.

>>90656657
a gun is just a sling with some applied chemistry

>>90656657
Kinetics is an order of weapons. Orbital bombardment can be as simple as basically throwing really large rocks at the planet.

It's way more effective than a guy throwing a rock, but in essence it's just a more advanced way of throwing a rock.

A sling as throwing a small rock at a person, assisted by the sling. A gun is "throwing" a small object at a person, assisted by gun powder.

One is more effective than the other, but the principle is the same.

>>90656437

That's definitely where it came from. The America fuck yeah song with "humanity" changed out for "America."

I find it's quite the opposite.

>humans save the universe despite no powers or special skills compared to aliens
>"your species has a great spirit/strength/force of will"

>>90648536

I'd call "it" TV shows or movies where humans are portrayed as more powerful than aliens. Just describe what you're thinking of in regular words, meme gimmick labels aren't required.

>>90657037
Man people have been saying "x fuck yeah" since before Team America, I even recall hearing "America fuck yeah" explicitly before the movie even came out. I always thought that the chorus was making fun of how common the phrase had become by that point.

>>90625374
>Batman the guy that has no power is on the same level as a nearly godlike alien
>human are depicted as lesser
Do you read comics anon?

>>90632070
I thought it was okay. I kinda want one more book in the series to round things out but it ends on an okay note that was fitting for the time period it was written in.

>>90657225

Just because people have said "fuck yeah" before Team America came out doesn't mean it was a meme phrase before that movie came out. It was just a regular phrase before that movie, like "sounds good" or "that's cool." The movie turned it into a phrase you associate with a pop culture reference.

File: 1485062504419.jpg (122KB, 558x340px) Image search: [Google]

122KB, 558x340px

>Show makes a great selection of non-human/monster/alien designs
>Fuck all that, let's focus on the shitty human the audience has to relate to and push those other characters in the background

>>90657325
>I'm too young to remember what people said before the internet so I'm going to assume all world culture started with my own personal perspective.

>>90657325
I guess? Like I said that phrase was already kind of widespread before the movie because of how sentiments were in the US at the time. I've never personally associated it just with the movie but I can see how people could have turned it into some kind of meme phrase later.

>>90657353

I'm 30. That's definitely where it came from and you're being a contrarian autist.

>>90657366
You're not 30 you're 16 and you're being a pretentious fuckwit

>>90657428

I was born in 86, graduated high school in 2005. Not sure why you're doubting this when it's probably the age range most of the people here are in.

>>90657366
Nah it was definitely around before then, like I said I can see how it might have sparked it becoming some meme phrase but "America fuck yeah" was a thing before Team America.

>>90657457
>not graduating until you're 19
embarassing

>>90652603
Yeah, that pic is the weirdest fucking fanfiction ever.

>>90657499

I was born in November. Graduation is in the summer. Was still 18.

>>90657457
>Not sure why you're doubting this

Because you're objectively wrong and only a child wouldn't have the perspective to know that they are wrong.

Also the average 4channer is like 13. Just go to /b/, /v/, or /pol/ and be amazed

File: iot.png (17KB, 336x575px) Image search: [Google]

17KB, 336x575px

>>90657598

>objectively wrong

The use of humanity fuck yeah as a search term begins after the release of Team America in 2004. That makes you "objectively wrong," not me.

File: 1385566043584.png (138KB, 1000x897px) Image search: [Google]

138KB, 1000x897px

>>90657344
>Fuck all that, let's focus on the shitty human the audience has to relate to and push those other characters in the background

>>90657791
>Google trends literally doesn't go back any further in time than 2004
>This means because it doesn't document searches for the term from before, or god forbid actual real life usage, it didn't happen before it
Not sure if you're a moron, or weaving an exquisite trap.

>>90656274
I will fuck the Elves, thank you.

>>90625374
Because underdogs always win. So if humans are underdogs relative to everything else, it'll seem way more 'badass' when they actually turn out to be best.

>>90657878

It didn't get used during 2004 before Team America came out. You're welcome to try to find pre-2004 data if you think it was used in 2003 and then everyone inexplicably stopped using it until after Team America came out.

>a kid born in 1999 is literally getting mad at memes

What a world

>>90625374
>complains about humans being depicted as lesser
>posts a character from a series of OP human characters

For fuck sakes anon. Batman could do something as stupid as untying the shoe laces of everyone in the Justice League and people would foam at the mouth for how badass he is.

File: 1487954046807.gif (50KB, 714x536px) Image search: [Google]

50KB, 714x536px

>>90657344
>>90657834
>mfw Star Trek's federation was founded by four species but apart from humans and sometimes vulcans, the other two are nothing but background mentions

File: 11.jpg (252KB, 1456x1062px) Image search: [Google]

252KB, 1456x1062px

>>90625374
Read Gantz

It's literally a "Human rule, fuck yeah!" comic

>>90658206
Anyone that falls for this should be kicked off of /co/

>>90625374
>lesser than other creatures
Only phisically, clearlly their willpower and wits can wipe out any other race in existence.

Ancient God that has lived forever? Too bad, a mere human can trick him.